The saga of Sylux: Fireheart
by Tyrannolodon
Summary: The first part of the story of Sylux, where a boy finds himself thrust into the wider universe as part of the legacy of a faded Empire that seeks a return to glory. But beyond the obvious threats lie things far more sinister than bloodthirsty space pirates or lethal federal Black Ops.


_"__It takes only takes one to start a fire." _- Chozo proverb

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><p>Born screaming into the world was a single child. Immanuel von Sanders, a gasp for air went out from his lungs as medical drones carefully overlooked the mother bringing him into the world. "Congratulations Eva, your son has undergone delivery with zero complications and with entirely healthy vital signs.." The lead drone said as it took the small infant away from the passage it had just left and back towards the tired mother after proper procedures to ensure that any leftover fluid in the lungs would be forcibly vacated and the infant had been properly cleaned.<p>

A nervous husband gazed down at the infant as he reflexively and blindly clung to his mother. "I will call him...Immanuel, what do you think Heinrich?" Eva said breathlessly, her silver hair stringy and messy from the effort. Heinrich paused for a moment as the new life on Cylosis sucked in some of his first breaths of air, small heart beating strongly It would still be some time before he could so much as open his eyes, and yet the little thing still made him want to place his hand on his dired off head.

"It's a fine name." He said as he smiled at the baby. The bond of family was soon to forge, having already been moulded by these first few moments, but duty quickly manifested itself and called him away. His notification system intoned and informed him that his attention was now needed, immediately based on the specific type of tone he was receiving. Sighing as he brought forth his device, he frowned as he saw that he was being called to a mountain range half-way across the world.

"Do what you have to." Eva said, immediately recognizing the severity of the intonations, which alerted the medical staff to quickly give him the space he needed to leave as quicklyh as possible. A brief apology was stated, a small smile formed on both of their lips as they parted for a brief moment. Immanuel's breaths remained as quiet as ever as the staff remained on hand to help his mother back to her feet as soon as possible.

Elsewhere on the world of Cylosis and naught but fifteen minutes laterl, at one of it's rather peculiar mountain ranges, Heinrich was deposited onto a flattened out section of mountain where a base had been set up, with scientists and digging mechanisms swarming the area as they buzzed around what, if the whispers he were hearing from around the site, was supposed to be something incredible.

With the night sky and triple moons of Cylosis behind him, the pale, silver haired and clean shaven man affixed his cold weather gear and formal attire, the fringes of his epaulettes swaying somewhat in the wind. "So what was so important that it had to interrupt the birth of my son?" He said, the expression on his face quickly informing those speaking to him that they had better impress upon him the importance of what they were doing.

"Of course sir. Not too long ago there was a firefight between a bounty hunter and her quarry. Some excessive firepower was used and a hole was cracked into the mountainside. The police came to investigate, however, when they assessed the damage they found readings they could not believe. After thorough rechecks, we were called, and we could confirm it. It was Alimbic technology, A whole ship's worth." Said the lead archeaologist, the eight limbed, compound eyed and writhing creature's circular mouth forcing out vocalizations translated into something he could understand.

"Ah...how far are we from exploiting it?" He asked, rubbing his chin as he downloaded the relevant data, using his own access code's to delve into the restricted information, pouring over everything he thought would be something that he would need to know. As far as he could tell, virtually everything about this project was something he had to know about. The Alimbics had passed ten thousand years ago, and even when they were present they were never the sort to freely share their sciences with the younger species, a chance to study an entire ship, a capital ship no less, was something he'd have to keep close tabs on.

"I don't think I can give an estimate, maybe years, probably years But with something this complete, we could ensure our independence for ages to come. Give us the funding, and we can work wonders here, Prime Minister." The Archeaologist said, prompting the minister to tip his cap to them as he lowered his device. A firm salute was passed between the two as the Minister of Cylosis decided to take a step inside the digsite, stepping past the multitudes of workers and excavation drones.

There, upon the silent composite doors they had unearthed, was an Alimbic emblem staring at him in the face. Air quickly filled his opening mouth as he sucked in a gasp. Being told about something was very different from seeing it in person. Yes, this would do.\

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><p><em>A year later. <em>

Immanuel made a faltering step, a fumble in the path towards actually walking straight. An encouraging tutor drone floated before him, it's triangular body and tendril like arms continually gesturing forward. "Come forward, come on Immanuel." The machine said as it urged him forward. Everywhere stood machines to record this moment at every possible angle, to ensure that the memory of his first few steps would not be forgotten.

With his mother, clad in her dark clad power suit, watching over him, he felt himself redouble his efforts to remain upright and avoid falling down again. Pushing himself up, he once again tackled the problem of defying gravity's command that he stay down. Twelve steps this time, twelve steps he managed before tripping over his own shoes and flopping onto the ground, substantially harder than before. A cry of pain and tears flowed from him before his mother stepped in.

"Mommy!" He cried before a gauntleted hand reached for his cheek and a soft lullaby filled his ears. In an instant, Eva kneeled down to his level as she righted him once again. Medical femtomachines were placed on the injured knee, the ruptured blood vessels in the bruise rapidly restoring themselves as she applied the clear salve to the knee, his own red eyes locked on his mother's violets, whimpers and whines slowly fading away. A warm embrace came around him, and was returned as she continued her lullaby, all the troubles in the world rapidly being forgotten.

For all the genetic drift Cylosians had from more "standard" humans, the taller frames, the melanin deprived hair, eyes, and skin, the more developed lungs, the connection of parent and child remained She adored her son just like countless other mothers throughout the stars and galaxies, her status and culture did nothing to change that. With the boy asleep, she personally carried him to his room to be allowed to rest.

After setting him down, she checked the infofeed on the contact lenses she had placed on earlier today. Little called her interest until a request from Heinrich for her presence soon dashed across her vision. A thought notified Heinrich that she was on her way and the Cyranar of Cylosis was soon off to the digsite uncovered a year ago. After using a two-way teleportation station set up for the convenience of the government, demonstrating to the guards her security clearances and passing by numerous checks, she took a few steps and went from one end of the world to the other. An impossible miracle by the standards of a long dead age made so routine she hardly blinked at it.

When she arrived, brisk salutes were given once she verified her identity. Signs of respect to the second most influential woman in the entire nation and it's finest warrior. Her expression was calm as could be as she descended into the excavation site's deepest reaches, her arms folded while her guards remained ever silent and positively stiff in their posture, or as stiff as they could be in the case of those guards that did not have a humanlike way to carry themselves.

Drones hovered around the area, shifting positions so as to ensure every nook and cranny of her descent through the elevator was covered. All something of a formality perhaps, though the title of Cyranar was honorary, it was certainly not an empty one, and none of her guards doubted that if needed,she could probably kill them all by herself.

When the elevator finally stopped, she quietly stepped forth, the doors recognizing her and disabling their shielding and retracting their twin metal sliders to allow her through, followed by the menagerie of guards and drones that always kept her company whenever the situation called for it. Another series of checks were made, such a project was bound to attract the attentions of potential enemies, something she understood perfectly well.

The bid for armed neutrality had made quite a number of enemies who would seek to force the nation to bow to one great power or the other. Enemy agents would be all over the site the moment any information leaked out, and given the presence of shapeshifters, it was only logical to make sure she was in fact, Eva.

With the final layers of security finally giving way to her, she had entered the room where nearly the whole of the ship had been uncovered at the heart of the mountain. A sharp breath of air filled her lungs as she gazed upon the craft, still intact after what she had been told was six million years of being buried into this world. A timespan longer than her entire genus had walked the universe to be left unperturbed by the wider universe, and it was still in perfectly functioning condition. Truly marvelous she thought.

"Glad you could make it Eva." Heinrich said, bringing her out of her musings on the vessel. The Prime Minister had spent many hours here, overseeing the efforts to glean more information about the ship personally. Given the bedraggled look he had, he had clearly also skipped out of many hours of sleep, juggling his duties of office and his time spent here. A frown formed on Eva's face.

"You're not resting properly." She said, snaking her arms behind him and locking her hands together at his midsection to bring his attention to her and away from the monitor he barely moved away from. Her head rested on his shoulder and a smile formed on her face, made all the clearer by the brightly lit room.

He huffed and turned to her with an arched brow as she finally let go. "I'm sorry, but this has refused to let my attention go." He responded, pinching his brow as he received a thermos full of soup from a passing drone, taking it in his hand as scientists below gave Eva a series of salutes to acknowledge her presence among them.

"Your family also requires your attention Heinrich." She said as she returned her hand to him, this time leaving it on his shoulder as she turned her head to glance at the data he was overlooking. Various forms of attempts to gain entry. All unsuccessful so far due to an inability to interface with the still active systems, the vastly superior materials science of the alimbics, and more recently the now active shielding.

"The ship's shielding is active now?" She said, Heinrich looking over at her and running a hand through his silvery hair as he chose his words.

"Since yesterday actually. They've been hoping that it means we will be able to access it soon." He said as she vaulted down from the high vantage point where they were standing from down onto the walkways below, ignoring his sudden protestations as she sought to get closer to the stricken spacecraft and try interfacing with the vessel for herself.

Getting closer and closer, the baffled security personnel were unable to decide whether to allow her through or to try and stop her. But it was soon too late as she closed the final stretch, and brought her arm forward to touch the craft, having noticed from the log that once the ship had activated, no attempts at physically contacting the ship had been made for safety reasons. She heard Heinrich shouting at her, but she was confident that she knew what she was doing.

She lay her hand flat out against the surface, the shielding of her suit contacting the shielding of the ship, and in an instant, a warbling tore through the air as the vessel initiated a deep scan of her. Out of all the power suits in the room, hers, as the Cyranar's warsuit, was the most sophisticated, and thus the one that held the vessel's attention the most. Enough for the ship to then initiate biological scans and then to do the same with every other living being in a massive area, tracing her bloodline and those of countless others in a femtosecond.

For another two femtoseconds, the ship analyzed the star charts of the universe that it could perceive, effortlessly writing code to interface with the technology it perceived so that it could drink a mountain's worth of information in an instant. Six million years of history were studied in less time than it took for the light of the room to reach her eyes. But the vessel found, to it's distress, that the Alimbics were recorded as extinct, effective ten thousand of the current standard calendar's cycles ago. At the hands of something known as Gorea.

In fact, all of the former peers of the Alimbics were listed as either dying or extinct. Though thankfully, it could find no traces of the hands of the Xik'krivik in current affairs. The vessel then returned it's focus on the silver haired and pale skinned woman before it, from the databases it had plundered, it had assigned her a name "Eva von Sanders", then it assigned her a number of auxiliary titles "Archduchess of Keislich and Hunster, Cyaranar of Cylosis, Maiden Name: von Trostoff, Prime Ministerial Consort.

It then checked on the figure listed as her spouse, Heinrich von Sanders, Archduke of Keislich and Hunster, Prime Minister of the Imperial state of Cylosis. Both of their parents were deceased due to Assassinations, and the two had recently sired a son. Deeming them of more importance than the Emperor, which it found had both a largely Ceremonial title and was off world at the moment, it focused on them as it uploaded the information it had gleaned into the minds of it's crew, all to prepare them for the revival.

A wave of energy traveled across the outermost skin of the ship, enveloping it before stopping at the very front of it's prow and traveling backwards, pulsing three times before the crew of the vessel was finally awakened from it's six million year long slumber. The time for hibernation was now ended, a new catalogue for this changed universe had to be crafted, plans for a restoration of what had been lost had to be drafted. Contact with these lesser beings had to be made as soon as possible.

"Eva, what have you done?!" Heinrich said, his voice hoarse from shouting as he caught up to her, her long silver locks flowing as she turned her head towards him, her expression a mixture of a small amount of repressed fear, awe, and perhaps some confusion as the vessel finally opened up, triangular doors forming in the sides of the craft and then retracting to allow the passengers to exit after but a few seconds of traversing through their mountainous vessel.

Impossibly tall and lanky creatures with heads that hovered above their bodies without the need of a neck greeted the gathered officials, with the guards, drones, and turrets immediately raising their weapons at the awakening alimbics who disabled their weapons technology with but a single thought, powering down their systems in an instant and leaving them at the mercy of the awakening ancients. The drones were redirected to point at their former controllers as telekinetic waves of force gripped the gathered Cylosians and kept them in place to be studied.

The lead Alimbic, clad in gold and electrum coloured armor and whose tear drop shaped head bore a single imposing yellow eye that glowed with some internal light, clacked it's undersized mandibles as it peered into the minds of the two Sanders brought before it, clenching them in it's telekinetic grasp and lifting them into the air to be brought before it's almost four meter tall frame. Probes into the mind were made and briefly rebuffed, anti-telepathic techniques and devices. Interesting. Still, another application of Alimbic cybernetic warfare systems managed to shut down the devices, and mental contact was established once again.

The best anti-psychic techniques that their minds could be trained for were pierced in moments, every nook and cranny of their minds were examined before it finally spoke. Not with it's feeble, underdeveloped mandibles, but with it's mind. "~I am Aliborak, Commander of this vessel your civilization has developed around. I do not require your names, they have been accessed and memorized. I thank you for awakening us.~" The ancient being commanded in a mental voice that seemed like the crashing of the ocean onto a too small dike as it finally released the two and allowed their technology to function.

Immediately a storm of projectiles from the defenders of the site erupted, weapons of every descriptor were fired at once at the Alimbic, but it simply focused it's mind on the physical projectiles and halted them in mid air, crushing them in an instant while telekinetic barriers absorbed the incoming energy attacks, preventing them from even touching it's actual suit shielding. "~Cease this display of bravado immediately, it can avail you nothing before our overwhelming superiority in every facet of civilization.~" The Alimbic said as it allowed the projectiles to harmlessly drop to the floor.

"~Let your world know this, the Alimbics have returned.~".

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><p><em>One year later. <em>

Immanuel sat with his toys, the two year old only occasionally nibbling on some of them when he got bored as his home had become a buzzing hive of activity. His parents had done so much to keep the news of the Alimbics heavily under wraps to prevent such things from reaching the ears of those who would move heaven and earth to see one. Despite his wishes for a loud and bombastic returns, Aliborak had to be ignored for the safety of the State, though keeping such a lie from it was certainly not within the realm of possibility.

Perhaps somewhat unfortunately for the boy, Aliborak and the other Alimbics had decided to go exploring across the planet, adhering to the desires of the Cylosian government to keep them secret, avoiding foreigners at all costs, or even regular citizens when it could be helped. Anything that would help ensure that no one who need not know that he was among the living was appreciated by the government of Cylosis. And as far as the government was concerned, nobody outside of itself needed to know.

And despite all that, the ancient being was still making a mess, drawn by the siren call of exasperated sighs and grunts of frustration, he peeked his head outside of the door to examine what was causing all the ruckus. Putting it's hands all over things that Immanuel was never allowed to touch was Aliborak. The armor plated insectoid examined just about everything it could in the most intrusive of manners without giving a single pause or thought to the others who viewed the artworks it examined as something far more important than just baubles to be appraised.

Who was this Aliborak to handle such ancient pieces so roughly?! Would probably be what Immanuel would have read had he been of the age to do so.

But a cursory examination of the thought processes in the room brought Aliborak's focus squarely on the small child, who gazed upwards at the creature with a mix of awe and fear. At nearly four meters, the Alimbic certainly was taller than just about anyone the boy was used to seeing, and the ever so bizarre combination of features entranced him as Aliborak and one of his assistants approached the child. Glances were exchanged between the primordial aliens, brief nods passed before Aliborak reached downwards.

Almost immediately Eva produced an arm cannon and leveled it at her newfound target, priceless art was one thing, threatening her son was entirely another. Not to be outdone, Heinrich made a single gesture and immediately every weapon in the room was pointed at the Alimbic. Immanuel himself tried his best to back away, not wanting to be touched by this strange alien, but Aliborak was much too quick, and hook like hands with tiny digits gripped the boy and lifted him into the air to the height of it's serenly glowing eye.

"~This is one of your offspring then? And in such an early state of formation! What an ugly little thing!~" Aliborak said mentally to the scowling of the two parents before one of his aides flickered the glow of it's central eye to get the attention of the ship commander. Turning it's head at angles that no human would have, the Alimbic locked gazes with it's other.

"~You are causing the neophyte a great deal of distress, it would be wise to release it immediately.~" The other stated, it's armor plating's gunmetal colouration and symbology denoting it's slightly lower rank and earning it the complete vertical rotation of Aliborak's head, a gesture made only possible by the floating nature of his cranium, and a gesture of acknowledgement at that. And soon the other's advice was validated as Immanuel started to do what most distressed two year olds do. Cry. Crying for mother, crying for father, crying to be let go, and just plain bawling.

"~It would appear that your foresight is impeccable Velgora. The grub is releasing most unpleasant noises.~" He said as he dropped the boy and sent him off towards his parents, where his father immediately scooped him up while his mother gave him a laserlike gaze that could have cut through the hardiest of alloys in the cosmos and a scowl that, if looks were able to kill, would have been classified as a weapon of mass destruction.

"It would be best if you would just...leave now. Go back to your ship." Heinrich breathed out as he comforted his still bawling son to the head rotations of the alimbics as they immediately set to depart from the building, never so much as indulging the ground with their presence as they floated towards the exit.

"~What disrespectful creatures.~" Aliborak said, it's psychic intonations plainitive as most of the other Alimbics returned affirmative messages. To believe, the arrogance of these new species to get so displeased over a simple cursory examination and scan of one of their own, however small and undeveloped he was.

"~You were handling the offspring of a political leader in a manner their culture would find appalling Aliborak. Tact does not seem to be among the skills the tutors have been able to impress upon you.~" Velgora replied, placing a hand over her chest in a gesture equivalent to folding one's arms to properly convey her unimpressed nature as they passed by more of the natives of Cylosis, a menagerie of countless different species and ethnicities making themselves known as the palace staff did their best to keep out of the way of the old ones.

"~We are not dealing with peers but primitives. We have a burden to oversee these beings, to restore what was lost and show them the proper ways of civilization.~" Aliborak replied, turning his head away from her as he observed the pristinely kept grounds around the facility. Hardly the gardens of Alinos it noted with a hint of disdain.

"~The rebirth will not be made any easier by you antagonizing our hosts.~" Velgora countered as they floated on by, often lingering at times to have another look at the sights of this culture that had been born around them. Perhaps it was not as grand as the sights the empire of old had to offer, but even the relatively humble works of this far younger nation still had their own grandeur.

Soon, before Aliborak could raise his own rebuttal, the thoughts of others buzzed in it's mind. Attention was refocused, redirected to the source of this new factor. These were not the thoughts that Aliborak was used to during these visits. Most of these new patterns skewed younger, less developed, save for a few whose minds spoke of being caretakers for these little ones, a handful of this subset of them being guides.

A mental scan through their perspective revealed the truth. A gathering of offspring touring the palace under the escort of guards, teachers, tour guides, and security drones to ensure their education and safety while they visited the premises of the prime minesterial palace.

"~Look at that, allowing neophytes to clamber over their seat of government. It's disgraceful.~" Aliborak noted, folding his arms as some of the children started to point and gawk in awe. One of the thought patterns from the escorts of the children seemed anomalous however. Further discrete probing uncovered the Truth, a shapeshifter. Aliborak considered warning the Cylosian government over this, but then decided against it, he was sure that if the Cylosians were presumptuous enough to treat him with their prior rudeness that they could handle the issue themselves.

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><p><em>Weeks later, Vioverus Space Station, Galactic Federation territory. <em>

Agent Terunayya stepped out of her ship and was immediately greeted by the stiff salutes of the ground crew as drones soon took care of maintaining her vessel. Halting herself once she was outside of her vessel, the shapeshifter waited for a team of federation wraiths to pick her up, idly breathing out as the sound of metallic boots clacking onto a metallic floor made themselves increasingly apparent.

She hazarded turning her head to look towards them, and was soon greeted with a pair of Wraiths. There weren't the dark-blue and olive drab clad army grunts or the chrome and cyan coloured marines or even the blue and white squaddies of the galactic police, but black, blue, and gunmetal grey clad men, women, and whatever sort of gender some aliens claimed under the command of the Federal united central intelligence network.

Clad in heavy, intimidating armor with glowing blue visors meant to provide maximum vision while providing as few weak points as possible, each one stood at a statuesque stature, a clear sign of their modifications. The lead one gestured with his rifle and then nodded his head over behind him. "Follow us Agent." He said in a voice definitely modulated for a heavier bass tone than his throat could provide.

A few moments passed, followed by an elevator ride as she made her way to the central office of the station where she was to meet with her superior. Both her and the Wraiths remained in silence, there was simply nothing to be said between them.

Finally, the time came for her to report the details she had learned. Information far too valuable to risk being intercepted by a long range transmission while she was on world. The doors parted for her and the wraiths stepped aside, holding their guns across their chest after a swift pivot on their feet and a clicking of their boot heels.

She came into a well-lit room, seemingly old fashioned in that it used a carpet rather than a foam covering, a coating of wood laying over the walls to only enhance the aged feel of the room while personal effects decorated the entire area. Finally, the shapeshifter's attention was brought to a desk, where the figure of the Supreme Director of Federation intelligence was waiting for her.

An alien with a somewhat cuttlefish like head from which carapaced and segmented tentacles spilled forth from and a quartet of grasping arms, two emerging from the shoulders as expected, with two smaller limbs constantly pressing into tactile hard-light feeds from projected holograms.

The garments of office were robe like, with epaulettes dressing the director's shoulders as his tentacles flicked across the hard-light screens in a manner so as to close them. Immediately, she could feel the six eyes of the director staring directly at her, the algae green carapace of the director's body gleaming in the light as it gestured at a seat with one of it's tentacles.

" ...I wasn't expecting to be meeting with someone so high up." She said, almos stuttering as she forced down her gorge before taking a seat. She bit her lower lip right before her rear nestled into the welcoming confines of the chair, clearly nervous about having to encounter *the* head honcho of Federation intelligence. Vzorag was not someone you met over a cup of coffee, that was sure.

"I came as soon as you informed us of extraordinary circumstances requiring you to break off your duties on Cylosis. I was hoping that you would be able to provide us with information on why their nation has become so...close lipped with it's going abouts on it's capital world all of a sudden. Such heavy media editing must mean they have something of value, no? And I would prefer to hear your words straight from the horse's mouth, before the Chairman has to hear." The Director said, clasping both pairs of it's limbs in an interlocking finger bridge.

"Yes, of course sir." Terunayya said as she maintained eye contact with the director, making sure not to stare at the idly writhing centipede like tendrils drooping from around it's circular mandible filled maw.

"As the data I am offering you here indicates, the Cylosians have somehow managed to obtain a population of living Alimbics, and more than that, an entire intact Alimbic vessel." She said, offering him the drive which contained the data in a secure format, learning the second part of her statement certainly wasn't easy, but she had managed to uncover what they were hiding under their mountain digsite nontheless.

Snatching the drive out of her hands, the director implanted them into his device and watched as a hard-light projection of her records was displayed before him. After taking a short while to take in enough information to satisfy himself, the Director then turned to Terunayya.

"It is fortunate that you brought this to my attention agent. What we have here represents a serious threat to Federation interests and the wider balance of power. With this, it is inevitable that soon the Cylosians will start pressing claims to their disputed territories, and from there; establish itself as a serious menace to our society." The Director said, his buzzing and warbling being noise canceled by his translator so that an entirely understandable tone could be used in it's place as it processed his words.

"What do you plan on doing, sir?" Terunayya asked, taking the time to cross her left leg over her right at the knee and place her hands in her lap.

"We will need to strike pre-emptively. I will pass the information to other authorities and we can organize a way of stopping this issue before it becomes a major problem. From there, we need only wait for the right reason to act." The Director said, leaning in closer to her, and while his eyes lacked the brows to intensify his look, she got the gist of his gesture all the same.

"Once the Causus Belli is secured, our agents should have already disabled the interdictor stations preventing a direct jump at Cylosis; from there we secure the asset and then cripple the Cylosian government to ensure that the war that erupts afterwards will be an easy one."

"Do we really need a war?" She asked, her fidgeting increasing as he spoke of what amounted to blasting a world full of innocents for what their government did.

"No one said that the job of keeping the dream of freedom, equality, and prosperity in the cosmos was an easy one Agent. What we do is hard to bear, even monstrous. I question myself often, but in the end, it has to be done. If we let them militarize what they've found our ability to protect our citizens may as well disappear. And I cannot allow that. If it's of any consolation, you no longer have to serve on that planet, speak to your usual director for a new assignment after you take some extra paid vacation time." He said, causing her brow to quirk.

"You'd do that for a field op like me?" She asked.

"I look out for my operatives Terunayya. Dismissed." Vzorag said as he refocused his attention to the datafiles.

"Sir." She said before giving him a salute and walking out of the room.

* * *

><p>Logfile: Polities: Federated Empire of Cylosis: Initially formed as part of the first big colonial rushes beyond the Milky Way's limits upon the discovery of hyperspace travel and the obsolesce of warp travel, the Federated Empire of Cylosis is based on the planet of Cylosis, a planet with slightly stronger than Earth gravity in addition to strong UV radiation screening. Over thousands of years, the colonists who made Cylosis their home diverged physically from earthborn humans, becoming somewhat physically hardier and taller, but most famously becoming far paler to the point that hair and eye colours that are rarities in more intermixed human populations such as silver and red are common.<p>

Though originally founded primarily as a human colonial effort, the Cylosian Nation has long since accepted or incorporated numerous other species. The Empire maintains a weak Feudalistic Hierarchy, where titles and holdings exist, but do not carry any real power for themselves. Rather this elaborate Hierarchy plays a strong role in Cylosian Culture, where these titles are considered a mark of prestige and honor, being thought of as recognition and rewards for great deeds. There are no higher legal statuses awarded for one's place in the hierarchy.

The Empire maintains an emperor and a royal family; officially known as the Kaetzar, which is a title passed out for supremely great deeds, and only if the prior royal family disgraces itself enough to make the government seek another family to honor. Addittionally, the culturally significant title of Cyranar is passed out to whomever is recognized as the greatest individual combatant within the Empire. Power truly rests in the elected legislature and the executive branch, divided between the Chancellor and Prime Minister.

The Empire has repeatedly resisted calls for integration with the Federation and has also fiercely maintained it's independence from the other superpowers as part of it's non-alignment policy, a policy which it maintains through strong militarization and heavy economic ties to ensure that forcible conquest would cause more harm to the aggressor than it would be worth.

Military Organizations: FUCIN Wraiths: Officially termed the "Reconnaissance Advanced Intelligence Team", the Wraiths are the armed forces of the Federal United Central Intelligence Networks, distinct from the Army, Navy, and Police. Crack troops with the latest in top secret military tech, brutal training regimens, no small degree of cybernetic and genetic enhancements, and disciplined for loyalty and initiative, the Wraiths are often criticized for their penchant for brutality in waging war, but continue to operate freely due to the powerful lobbies that like the idea of a paramilitary force with the guts to do what the military and police may not do due to ethical concerns.

A heavily controversial aspect of the Galactic Federation, the Wraiths are often deployed at the request of the more subtle arms of the Federation's intelligence body whenever they believe that the conventional military or police would not suffice for whatever reason. From there, the Wraiths deploy with a full complement of any kind of weapon, including their own fleet and motor pool. From there, Intelligence actions tend to become extremely violent as whatever required the deployment of such force typically ceases to remain an issue for very long.

In times of all out war, the Wraiths function under their own command structure that is theoretically part of the overall Federation's joint armed forces command, but has often in practice worked towards it's own goals at the behest of FUCIN, though they do their best to ensure that these goals also coincide with or benefit those of the wider military. When working in combined arms operations, Wraiths function as Shock Troopers or Commandos, working to where their individual superiority can outweigh their lack of numbers.

* * *

><p>AN: You have no idea how long this has been in the pipeworks...well actually anyone who can read a date knows how long this has been in the pipeworks but I digress. I stopped my prior fics because I felt that I was no longer satisfied with what I had created, and so retreated and thought out the long process of a proper rewrite.<p>

Now, well, I'd like to think that my writing ability has improved tremendously, and that the story that I'm telling is also a more interesting one. Those who have read Sylux Origins are probably going to find that the story that follows is going to be a very different beast with a substantially different main character. And heck, everyone's going to be different.

But yes, welcome back!


End file.
